Vietnam services market open: VCCI

Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s services market is
significantly open to foreign investments under the commitments to the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA),
according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Experts said at a conference held in Hanoi on November 30 that
after joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the services market remained
relatively “close”. However, the openness has expanded and a majority of legal documents
regulating the services market were found compatible with the commitments to
TPP and EVFTA.

According to Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, director of VCCI’s WTO
Centre, some 85 services’ categories were already compatible with TPP and
EVFTA’s commitments, meaning that the level of openness was found to be
equivalent or higher than the commitments.

Incompatibilities were found in 14 categories, while 22 others
did not have conditions for doing business and 32 categories did not have
specific regulations for foreign investors.

Trang said for categories which were found incompatible with TPP
and EVFTA’s commitments, the legal framework of Vietnam should be amended to
ensure compatibility. For those already compatible, Trang said transparency
should be enhanced.

“It is important to open the market to foreign investment in
line with international commitments. However, the opening of the market must be
given thoughtful consideration and should be transparent,” Trang said.

Pham Manh Dung from Rajah & Tann LCT Lawyers, said assessing
the openness of the services market would be helpful to both enterprises and
management agencies in evaluating foreign direct investment as a base to
improve the legal framework.-VNA